Man-at-Arms

SUMMARY:
The Top Toys Man-at-Arms went through 4 main stages of mold development, each stage with a wide variety of variations.

The first editions were the soft head variants. These started first with small bodies (smaller than standard Mattel figures) using the rotocasting method (rotomoldeo). The heads were imported from Taiwan, and are marked as such. These smaller torsos started with slightly longer necks than an average figure. As TT began to manufacture their own heads, the "Taiwan" inscription was removed, and the necks were redesigned to a shorter length. 

The second editions kept the small bodies but used hard heads. These editions can vary from a traditional green body with plastic arms to a much darker green body with rubber arms.

The third editions were the pre-reeditions. These are figures that had a mix of both smaller parts, and bigger reedition parts. All of the pre-reeditions had a big torso mold marked MATTEL INC 1981, along with reedition shorts and reedition egg-yellow accessories. Where they varied primarily was in the limbs. Some had large legs, some small legs. Some large arms, some smaller arms. One of these "pre-redis" even used He-Man shorts!

The fourth and final editions were the reeditions. These all had big torsos. Some with MATTEL INC torsos, and some with blank torsos with square arm pegs (a unique, only to TT development). They vary in shorts (some had he-man shorts, others unpainted maroon shorts, etc...) and they vary in accessories. Some had yellow accessories, while others had orange accessories!

FIGURE MARKED: Blank.
ACCESSORIES MARKED: Unmarked.

1st Edition - SOFT HEAD VARIANTS:
(Soft head, small body)
• Taiwan marked head, long neck
• Unmarked head, short neck (a few long neck too)

2nd Edition - HARD HEAD VARIANTS:
(Hard head, small body)
• Traditional green body (regular blue belt)
• Dark green body (Light or blue belt) rubber arms

PRE-REEDITION VARIANTS:
(MATTEL INC torsos, reissue shorts + reissue egg-yellow accessories)
• Small arms + small legs, blue belt with brown shorts
• Large arms + small legs, He-Man shorts (identical to the reedi with He-Man shorts, except for the small legs)

REEDITION VARIANTS:
(Entire body large, re-issue shorts and accessories)
• MATTEL INC torso - yellow accessories, blue belt, brown shorts
• MATTEL INC torso - yellow accessories, He-Man shorts
• UNMARKED torso - marron (unpainted) shorts, dark orange accessories
• UNMARKED torso - marron (unpainted) shorts, light orange accessories, Sky blue helmet